Gareth Dewhurst, who was found guilty of helping dispose of her body, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

A jury at Preston Crown Court convicted 60-year-old Ewing of her murder earlier this month but was not told that Ewing had previous convictions for child sex offences.

Ewing served a 12-month jail sentence in 1995 for gross indecency with a 13-year-old girl, whom he also indecently assaulted.

Sentencing him to life, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker told Ewing he had carried out a "carefully planned and executed murder" to avoid the prospect of returning to jail.

Ewing – who callously grinned for his police mugshot photo – sat with his arms folded for most of the hearing and calmly walked from the dock after sentencing.

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VULNERABLE: Paige was having a hard time getting over her mum's death and was exploited

“Neither of the defendants has ever shown any remorse and over the years since Paige went missing they have done everything they could to cover their tracks”

Joanne Cunliffe, CPS

Paige went missing on August 23, 2007 after rowing with her dad Frank about missing cash.

He reported her missing on August 26 but the police botched their initial response.

Frank clearly stated his daughter was 15, but her date of birth was wrongly entered on the police system as 1962.

As a result, cops dealt with the disappearance as though Paige were a 45-year-old woman who had moved out voluntarily.

It wasn't corrected until September 7.

Mr Justice Jeremy Baker told how Paige's life in the summer of 2007 was in "turmoil" after her mother had died in February that year and her late father's addiction to alcohol worsened to the extent that he largely abandoned her.

He said she was "sexually promiscuous" and an "easy target", which was recognised by Ewing, whose flat near her home in Bispham, Lancs., became "something of a magnet" for young girls as he allowed them to smoke, drink alcohol and take drugs.

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EVIL: Gareth Dewhurst was sentenced for eight years for disposing of a body

Joanne Cunliffe, from CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) North West complex casework unit said: "At the time of her disappearance Paige had very little stability in her life and Robert Ewing took advantage of this.

"He was a middle-aged man who befriended her, not for any charitable reasons, but because he had an inappropriate sexual interest in her.

"Although we will never know the exact circumstances, the jury in delivering their guilty verdict have found that soon after Paige went missing he killed her in his flat.

"Gareth Dewhurst knew about the murder and helped Robert Ewing dispose of her body.

"Neither of the defendants has ever shown any remorse and over the years since Paige went missing they have done everything they could to cover their tracks, to divert enquiries away from them and try to put the blame on other people.

"Robert Ewing in particular has attempted to lay false trails and obstruct the police investigations through a series of concocted explanations about the evidence.

"Because Paige's body has never been found this has been a very complex case, firstly to prove that Paige was dead, not just missing, and then to prove that Robert Ewing murdered her.

"My sincere sympathies are with the family of Paige Chivers. Despite the outcome today the trial has been a difficult and painful time for them. I hope they can take some comfort in knowing that Robert Ewing and Gareth Dewhurst have now received justice."

Ewing was also found guilty by a jury of perverting the course of justice by intimidating witnesses and providing false information to the police.